This post used to contain a video of that a young boy had put up to show off his new Judo suit. It was called "This is my Judo Suit and some Kicks". I'm pretty sure that he hadn't started judo yet or was just at the very beginning of his classes as he was dancing around showing off kicks and punches that we don't do in most Judo practise but he didn't know that.

It was pure frivolity really to show this. I have no idea where this child comes from or who he is, but good on him for showing off what he loves. Still, it was probably a good thing that it came down.

Be Proud But Be Careful Who You Tell

However, I've had to learn the hard way that it is not always prudent to tell anybody that you do martial arts of any kind. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be proud of your achievements.

It took me a long time to sort out how to balance the above, seemingly opposite points of view and a lot longer to work out how I should communicate that to my students. After all, what's the point of learning something and then telling nobody what you know.

We do not want our Judoka to keep secrets because that implies there is something wrong with what they are learning. But at the same time, we don't want them unwittingly putting themselves in dangers because the tell the wrong person. That would not be good self defense. I'm sure other Martial artists know what I mean

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There seemed to be no martial arts quotes around that expressed the above adequately so eventually I managed to come up with:

"Be Proud of What You Achieve in Judo But Be Careful Who You Tell"
- Richard Roper